JSS intern teachers recruitment in limbo due to budget cuts
NAIROBI, Kenya Jul 17 -The fate of employment for the 46,000 intern teachers under the Junior Secondary School (JSS) and 20,000 new teachers promised by the government now hangs in limbo over budgetary cuts.
The Ministry of Education through the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) had given an assurance to employ the 46,000 intern teachers in July but now it seems the soonest they can be employed is next year in January.
The 20,000 new teachers will have to wait till October this year following the budget cuts occasioned by austerity measures by the government following the withdrawal of the finance bill 2024.
The commission Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nancy Macharia revealed that National Treasury directed them to utilize 15 percent of their budget currently which can only cater for salaries on those on payroll.
“We have written to Treasury telling them what will be affected by the cuts. We don’t have that money to implement end of the month. The warranty we have is to spend 15 of our budget which means we are paying salaries,” Macharia said.
The government has planned to fully employ the JSS teachers who are currently in internships at a cost of Sh18.3 billion this month.
The fall of the finance bill had created a budget hole of Sh346 billion but president William Ruto said the government would not borrow the whole amount but Sh169 billion.
Squabbles between the government and teachers are in the offing following budgetary cuts in the current financial year which will affect the implementation of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and medical cover scheme
In the supplementary budget estimates 2024/2025 Macharia told MPs their overall budget has been slashed by Sh10 billion which portended delay in the second phase of the CBA agreement implementation.
Even before the dust settles on the Generation Z sponsored protests, the teacher’s unions led by Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) might stage protests following the move.
“We have written to Treasury telling them what will be affected by the cuts. We don’t have that money to implement end of the month. The warranty we have is to spend 15 of our budget which means we are paying salaries,” Macharia said.
Teachers were set to enjoy a basic salary increment of up to 9.5 per cent starting from July 1, 2023, following an agreement between TSC and teachers’ unions.
The deal was signed by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), and the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (KUSNET).
The CBA agreement included an increase in house allowance for teachers categorized under Cluster and other terms of service such as promotions, career progression and workload for special needs education (SNE) teachers apart from salaries.
Macharia observed that delays in the implementation of the CBA will attract law suits which will lead to penalties and also soil the working relationship between the commission and teacher’s union.
“When you sign a CBA with unions you deposit it in court to show that you have obligated to implement. So, we shall have litigation and seem like we are acting in bad faith,” she said.
The committee chair Julius Melly insisted they will not allow the Treasury and TSC to touch of the CBA implementation which will affect learning across the country.
“You know that you have a CBA which will result to strike if affected, why do you go straight and do a reduction in an area you have committed. Or you are shooting yourself in the foot?” he posed.
Moiben MP Phylis Bartoo questioned why the National Treasury was reorganizing a critical budgetary item touching on personal emoluments of the working force at such a time the nation is facing uphveal.
“We don’t want to see teachers going to the streets at this critical time because of retained benefits,” she said
Luanda MP Dick Maungu however pointed accusing fingers on the teachers employer for choosing to delay implementation of CBA when faced with budgetary cuts instead of reorganizing budget in other sectors.
“Why has the TSC decided to touch on the CBA when the National Treasury directed them to reduce their budget by Sh 10 Billion. This is a problem of your own making,” Maunga retorted.
“Its sad that the TSC is endangered because we are inviting trouble and we must do what we have to do,” he said.
Teachers will also face hurdles accessing critical health services as the medical cover scheme has been slashed by 50 percent resulting to a shortfall of Sh 11.8 Billion.
The medical scheme under Minet was in the second year of implementation in the three year framework contract with services such as group life, group personal accident and WIBA no longer available.
“Government is going to have litigation on this medical scheme issue because we already have an agreement with the provider. Both secretariats and teachers will be affected because it can’t run,” Macharia stated.
The situation has been propelled by budgetary cuts on the recurrent expenditure from Sh 357B to 347B which encompassed salaries for the over 400,000 teachers across the country.
The development budget has also been cut by Sh 38 Billion from the initial Sh 442 Billion allocated to Sh 404 Billion with some of the development projects affected are priority programs for Kenya Kwanza Administration.
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